THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Mom, I'm Bored
SOURCE: Sherrie Boyer
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
IT'S THE WORK that Allio likes best about soup kitchen.
She likes that the adult volunteers rely on her - and she likes that the guests know she will bring them food. She likes the bustle and the energy. And she likes knowing that even a 6-year-old can help someone and have that help mean a lot.
Helping is something children do naturally and this time of the year, there are more ways to help than ever. Involving children in your volunteer activities is easy, if you think it through first. Some agencies don't permit young children in busy areas for insurance reasons. But there are plenty of ways they can volunteer; and for older children, ages 10 and up, the list seems endless.
The Volunteer Connection, an area service that hooks up interested volunteers with more than 300 non-profit groups, has a handy list and lots of phone numbers. Paula Barlay Cook, executive director, or Jill Ferguson, volunteer coordinator, can offer direction. Call 624-2400. Or call a non-profit directly and ask what services are needed.
It's important to know, and accept, whether your child can really help or whether his presence will mean that you can't help adequately. Knowing this will enable both of you to deliver the help you've promised, which is another one of those good lessons children learn.
If you can't help at a specific agency, there are ways to help from home. Gifts of money, time and talent in creating or completing a project are also good ways to teach children about helping those in need.
The Salvation Army has a list of several opportunities this season. For a home-based project, pick up some of the 9,000 stockings the Salvation Army will provide to children this year, and take your child shopping to fill it up. These are given to children ages 5-12; fill the stockings with wrapped candies, crayons and books, games, toys, socks, cassettes, etc. Or pick up one of the 4,000 teddy bears (Salvation Army) and dress it with store-bought clothing or sew an outfit with the provided pattern. Even very young children can help with these gifts. Call 461-7646.
Stockings and bears are due back for distribution by Dec. 8.
You and your child can also work in the toy shop (ages 14 and older), answer a request for new clothing on an Angel Tree (at area stores and malls - pluck a card and fill a gift bag you then leave under the tree with the tag securely attached), and label and stuff envelopes with thank-you notes. Young children can help peel the labels that stick onto the angels, which are then hung on the trees. Children over 18 may work in the warehouse. Younger children can work with you sorting food for the pantry, dividing beans into plastic baggies, and stocking the shelves by placing similar food items together. To volunteer for a specific task with the Salvation Army, call 461-7646 and ask for Rosemary Hozdic.
You can work the Red Kettle for the Salvation Army, ringing a bell for donations at the entrance to an area store. Dozens of locations are still available. Betty Liston, the agency's business administrator, recommends that children be age 9 or older and work with an adult for a four-hour shift. Standard shifts are eight hours. To sign up, call 622-7275 and ask for Liston.
Younger children may also volunteer with a parent for kettle duty, but Liston recommends signing up with a friend and splitting the four-hour shift, because younger children may become cold, restless or hungry. One friend remembers signing up with her child and feeling the surge of a great deed shared for about 20 minutes only to face an afternoon of whining for the bathroom, cocoa, a chair and home. ``But you can't leave, you have this responsibility you accepted, and suddenly it's not working,'' she recalled.
If you choose to sign up with a child for a four-hour slot, some of the tips would include carrying a thermos of hot chocolate and a snack bag, using the restroom first, and arranging ahead of time for the child to be picked up by a spouse or friend a hour or two into the shift.
The Norfolk Healthcare Center (626-1642), SEVA Training Center (424-8288) and other nursing home facilities need Christmas carolers, especially children, to sing to residents. Call and arrange a time you can go with a few children and a repertoire of three to five songs.
Children are also welcome to take Christmas cards, to play Christmas bingo (a picture game) with the residents, help the residents decorate cookies and make ornaments, or just talk to lonely residents. For specific details, call a nursing home near you and ask for the activities director.
The American Red Cross (398-5435) needs donations of new or nearly new toys as well as inexpensive adult gifts. Operation Blessing (420-0057) needs help wrapping gifts for nearly 4,000 people. Seton House (498-4673) needs help decorating the building, helping residents make ornaments and filling stockings.
Virtually every organization needs donations of food or gifts of new clothing and new toys. Many groups help mothers with infants. Consider buying baby food and diapers (especially larger sizes) for organizations such as the Dwelling Place (624-9879).
Many religious and civic groups provide meals or emergency shelter for the homeless. Volunteer to the kitchen crew and help serve a meal with your child.
Giving with a child isn't always easy, and there is a lesson in that for both the parent and child.
It's important to be realistic about how much of a lesson is appropriate for your child at a given time. Think about how your family team can help this season. And how, over the years, that help will grow. One day, giving to those in need may be a tradition treasured more than auntie's fruit cake or a pile of presents under the tree. by CNB